Convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik will stand by his fallen "hero" Jacob Zuma when the former president eventually stands trial for fraud, corruption, money-laundering and racketeering.
Yesterday Shaik said he would stick to his version that the payments he made to Zuma were not corrupt - years after he unsuccessfully defended them in the High Court in Durban.
He told the Sunday Times that the support he gave to Zuma from the early 1990s was intended to assist an ANC leader who was central to the ANC/IFP peace process in KwaZulu-Natal, and whose life was under threat because of the provinces's violent political upheavals.
"They burnt down his house, his wife was raped, and the IFP sent hitmen after him," Shaik said, "but he does not speak about these things. He was my hero. That is the man who I helped, and who was my friend and comrade. To my own sacrifice, and the sacrifice of my business, I assisted him. I felt that there could never be economic stability in KZN if there was no political stability. And Jacob Zuma was central to achieving that."Shaik says the image of him and Zuma standing and shaking hands (see picture on left) was taken at the UN, where Zuma received the Mandela Peace Prize for his efforts to achieve stability in KwaZulu-Natal.
"That's the man I knew. The man who is accused of all these things with the Guptas and state capture is not the Jacob Zuma I knew."
Shaik, who served 28 months of his 15-year sentence for fraud and corruption, was granted parole on medical grounds in 2009 after his doctors said he was terminally ill. They said he was clinically depressed, was losing his eyesight, had suffered a stroke and would die from "severe" high blood pressure. Shaik says his application for a presidential pardon from Zuma was based on his unchanged belief that the payments he gave Zuma were not corrupt.
Since his release from prison, Shaik has been seen shopping, dining out and playing golf. He was originally allowed six hours of free time a day, but this was cut to four after he was seen shopping outside his allotted free time.
And if Zuma succeeds in persuading the high court that the money he received from Shaik was received with innocent intent?
"I will feel vindicated as I always believed my financial and other forms of assistance to Zuma were part of a greater contribution to my movement, the ANC," said Shaik...